I've had my portafilter machine for 6 months now and never had issues until two days ago. This is what my steamed milk looks like right now. It's supposed to be a cappuccino btw. The repairman just left and said the machine looks fine. Pressure, hoses, steam wand and tip are all good as new. What do I do? I have a coffee shop and I can't serve my coffee like this 😭
by philodendrium
14 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/4xosic9nji6d1.png?width=1169&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ae33f51f4fdf8096a95cc1e14bd2c180891d430
Not a pro at latte art but this is what it usually looks like 🥸
What happens when you open steam up into an empty pitcher
Is there a problem with your milk? I know the hot weather has been causing ours to go bad a bit earlier than the printed expiration date, which can mess with how it steams
Check the milk. I’ve had milk that just would not steam and it was a local brand that was not homogenized correctly/not at all so the whole batch wouldn’t steam correctly. Get milk of a different brand or source to check
Could honestly be a batch of milk…
Is the producing a strong stream of steam when you crank the knob?
What does the steam boiler pressure read?
Both cannot be true
Could it be there is some leftover descaling present? Causes the milk to separate too
Go to the grocery store and grab a half gallon of whole milk and test with that. Don’t rely on the place you’re getting your current milk from. Take them out of the test completely.
It could be the milk is getting too cold and freezing, causing the milk to separate. It could be too warm and going bad faster or it could be old which also makes the milk watery.
Not sure of your machine model, but based on the drip tray I am sure the brand is Nuova Simonelli.
These machines are single boiler heat exchangers, what pressure is your boiler at? (There should be a gauge that looks kind of like a clock. There are either two gauges or one dual gauge. One range should be from 0-3 which is the boiler pressure and the other from 0-15(18) which is the pump/dispensing pressure.)
What does the smaller range read? It should be somewhere between 1-1.5. If it is less than that you may have an issue with your heating element or your pressurestat could be incorrectly reading your boiler temperature.
There might also be a sightglass on the machine that shows a water level. The level water level should be close to center. If the sightglass is completely filled or really close to the top than your boiler has too much water. You will need to clean/adjust your fill probe and drain some of the water.
In short the problem you are experiencing is most likely due to
1. Machine overfilling
A. Due to fill probe being set at the wrong level
B. Fill probe is covered with scale buildup.
C. Fill probe is faulty/disconnected
2. Machine not heating
A. Heating element is faulty
B. Pressurestat is faulty
C. Contactor is stuck/faulty
It’s the oat milk. Our oat milk looks like that. It used to look fine, then I guess they changed the recipe and now it’s terrible. Only happens to us with oat. Every other milk steams fine.
Try steaming water with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid added. If your steam wand is fine, it will steam as if milk would. Will tell you if it’s the wand or the milk 🙂
If the milk gets too hot, then it’s going to clump